


Hindsight

by Celirian



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers Generation One
Genre: Contemplation, Gen, Reminiscing, Writing Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-27 02:50:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10800153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celirian/pseuds/Celirian
Summary: Swerve's about to be regaled with one of Kup's famous recollection stories, or is he? In a rare moment of reflection what will Swerve learn from a bot whose seen just about everything there is to see?





	Hindsight

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from Tumblr! Posting it here so its easier to read because Tumblr is sort of poop for longer written pieces.

Swerve was tired. Not in a his last recharge was on and off again kind of way or a he just didn’t sleep enough hours kind of tired. He was  _ tired _ . The kind of tired when your optics refused to focus and your head feels heavy. When every step you take feels like it took you three minutes to do. When usually light things feel heavier than they should and stupid simple tasks feel so arduous that you don’t think they’re worth it anymore. It was an exhaustion that went to his very core. Even his thoughts felt tired. He didn’t even think that was a thing. 

But hey, everyday is a learning experience right? Or some such bullshit like that. 

It’s not like he didn’t have a reason to be tired. Every single Cybertronian on Cybertron had every  _ good _ reason to be tired. They did just save their planet, and the universe (again). While it could be said that Optimus and Megatron did most of the work (and Swerve really really  _ really _ hated having to admit that Megatron saved them), everyone else was still part of that battle. There was no escaping a million and a half Ammonites attacking the very small space that everyone was crammed into and even though they won, barely, they’d lost a lot of bots. A lot of friends. If things weren’t dire enough, they had become that much more convoluted. I mean, who had expected Megatron’s return? 

Swerve had, no mistaking that. Megatron  _ always _ found a way to come. Why was that any different? The difference now was that he was wearing red on his chest and not purple and Swerve heard it was Bumblebee’s old badge and that just sort made everything that much more messed up. Messed up and hectic and so tense you could pretty much eat the static in the air with a spoon.

Luckily the Lost Light was looking good as new and as soon as the whole debacle that was Megatron’s trial was over they’d be bouncing again. Hopefully that would be sooner rather than later. 

“What’re you doing all the way out here, kid?” 

Swerve wasn’t sure whether he should turn around or not. Only three bots that he knew of called people ‘kid’ on a daily basis: Ironhide, Kup, and Ratchet. 

There was too much of an accent and not enough grump to be Ratchet. Besides, Ratchet was busy. You don’t take part in en epic battle for your planet (and the universe [again]) and not suffer more than a couple injuries. He’d been elbow deep in bot innards since the Lost Light got back to Cybertron. As for the accent, it wasn’t slangy enough to be Ironhide. Just ignore the fact that after his time at the academy, Swerve was pretty sure Ironhide would never  _ willingly _ start a conversation with him.  Which meant it had to be…

_ Oh Primus.  _

“Kup?” And no, his voice did  _ not _ just squeak into a high pitched ‘I’m clearly vibrating with nerves and excitement at the same time’ tone. Nope. He was going to be totally cool and collected and not ask a million questions because Kup was a Wrecker and Swerve definitely didn’t idolize them and think they were the coolest bots in existence. 

_ Who am I kidding? _ Definitely not Kup. Nothing got by him. That’s why he was  _ Kup _ . You don’t get to be as old as Kup, as experienced as Kup, as cool as Kup, by not paying attention to the details. 

Swerve didn’t twitch a gear as dark green settled down next to him, a slightly disturbing creak in Kup’s frame made Swerve cringe.  _ Old, right. He’s old. _

“Ah,” Kup said with realization as he looked out over the wild and strangely unfamiliar sprawl of Cybertron’s surface in front of them. “I see what you’re doin all the way up here.” 

Swerve hadn’t actually considered the view from on top of...wherever he was. It was sort of like a plateau, but it definitely was just some really large piece of debris that managed to not get buried under all the plants that try to kill you when Cybertron had its reset button pushed. He just wanted to get away from everyone for a minute or twelve. 

Although, now that he was looking at it, it was pretty stunning. The sun was still fairly high in the sky and the tangled knots of plants below casted shadows that started to make pictures if you stared at the patterns long enough. It was weird, really really weird, to look out and not recognize where they were. Swerve was a lot older than a lot of bots tended to remember, not as old as Kup though. 

_ I wonder if he’ll start doing that thing everyone says he does… _ Swerve stole a quick glance up at Kup and then quickly looked away. Usually, according to everyone else, when Kup got contemplative (and his face was definitely reading ‘thinking too hard’ right now) he would talk about the past and something he learned from his experiences. Rodimus said it was usually some boring narrative, but Perceptor said that it was always good advice. And damn, Swerve could have used some good at that moment. 

“You know,” Kup said slowly, almost to himself more than Swerve. “Looking down at all of that down there, all that  _ mess _ ; it reminds me-”

_ Called it! _ And he couldn’t believe he was about to witness one of Kup’s great reminiscence stories. It was too good to be true. Maybe he’d be regailed with some kind of great ancient wisdom! Maybe he could leave this piece of trash and feel slight  better about things. 

“Reminds me of the day Ark 1 launched.” 

_ Huh? _

Swerve couldn’t help but give Kup a puzzled look. He’d been there at the launch himself and this definitely didn’t look anything like the launch pad and there was definitely not a giant spaceship about to take off into outer space. At least not in front of them. The Lost Light was a couple miles behind them. Also there was no massive crowd or festivities or anything. Literally nothing in front of them could possibly remind Kup of that day. 

That damn day in history when everything started falling apart and no one knew it yet. When hopes were so high that nothing could crush them. When everyone was so ignorant to the poison that was beginning to spread across the planet and through society. 

Kup gave a small chuckle as Swerve’s facial expressions went from downright confused to borderline angry. “What? Don’t agree with me?”

“Er...no.” Swerve paused, trying to think. Was there something he was missing? He glanced down at the world in front of him and shook his head. “Yeah no, I got nothing.” 

Maybe Kup was going senile in his old age. He’d heard that rumor before, too. Whirl always said Kup was more crazy than not. Then again that was  _ Whirl _ talking so it was hard to take seriously.  

Kup let a small, mischievous smirk crawl up one side of his face. “Hear me out here, kid.”

“I, er, okay. I’ll try.” Swerve frowned. He was good at listening, he’d never have actually made his bar successful if he wasn’t as good at listening as he was at talking, but he was skeptical right now. “Just so you know, I was there that day, so this is going to be a hard sell.”

Kup just grinned and looked down at him. “Good, then this will be easier than I thought it was going to be. It’s hard to describe that day, ya know?” Thinking a moment Kup looked back over the land in front of them, squinting, almost like he was trying to see where the ship would be standing if it were in front of them. “Where were you that day? Where did you watch from?”

Swerve blinked. “The southern side of the launch platform.” He paused. “I was down in the main crowd.” He remembered because he couldn’t see the initial engine power up, since he was too short to see anything other than a sea of legs, but he was also the only one not complaining about the sun being in his eyes; a small plus to being short. Once the Ark was in the air it didn’t matter where you were standing, you could see if from any direction within a hundred miles of the launch zone. 

Kup thought a moment and nodded. “The Ark’s trajectory took it right over your head then, huh? I watched it from up front. They asked me to go along, you know. I said no. My home’s always been here and I wasn’t about to abandon it. I thought we could protect it, I thought we had a chance. Even back then, when no one really knew that we were on the cusp of the big fall out, I had a sinking feeling in my gut. It only grew when I watched that ship take off.”

Swerve frowned. He knew. He knew all too well what that feeling was. He had it then, also. He had it  _ now _ . It was like Cybertron was trying to warn them of something. It was like when you get the feeling that you have something really important to do, but you can’t remember what it is no matter how hard you wrack your processor. Except this feeling was a little more foreboding. Losing the world (again) was a much higher consequence than missing a drinking date with a friend. Unless that friend is Whirl.

Kup continued. “I get the same feeling now. We’ve got a lot of history in our pockets and look where it’s landed us? This ripe old mess. Wasn’t much different back then, either. Now, instead of star systems we’d never seen before or planets we couldn’t fathom we’ve got our own backyard to navigate and discover.  _ Rediscover _ , actually.”

_ Okay, also true. _

Also, probably the most messed up part of all of this. Even after all the fingers were done pointing and the blame was tossed to everyone’s feet no matter how involved, or uninvolved, they were no could deny that they  _ all _ had a hand in the whole debacle. Every single bot carried some part of the blame. Decepticon, Autobot, and Neutral alike. That’s why he opened up his bar to all of them. Because to hell with it all. If this was going to be the cycle they kept going through as a race? If tension was always going to break down into war and war into some kind of galaxy threatening end game then why not have a space for people to actually enjoy a moment away from the shit show that was reality?

“So,” Swerve frowned, glancing up at Kup quickly before staring back out to the horizon. “this is more about how we didn’t listen to warning signs back then and wondering if we’re going to do the same this time around?”

“You could say that.” Kup shrugged. “Or wondering what our part in all of it is going to be this time around. If we’ll even have a part. I wondered the same thing back then. Didn’t know how it was going to pan out. We’re writing on the last page of a book and whatever the next chapter is, is going to be a whole new novel.

Oh. Oh!  _ Oh _ . Swerve hadn’t actually considered that. Well he did because what else do you do when you come up to secluded piece of trash to stare out at nothing but think about things that happened in the past? But he hadn’t really thought about how it was for someone like Kup. How many more years of hindsight was adding to that doubt and hesitance? 

Not to mention that whole being stuck in the Dead Universe thing. 

Swerve resisted the urge to cringe. Sure, he’d been involved in things over the course of the war, but his involvement was being as uninvolved as he could while still being somewhat involved. At least involved enough to still have bragging rights. He wasn’t exactly proud of that. 

He wasn’t exactly sure he could change at the moment, either.

“What do you think we’ll do this time?” Swerve was almost afraid to ask. Almost.

“Judging from what we’ve done is the past?” Kup sighed and squeezed the bridge his nose. “Probably muck things up.”

“Again."

“Yeah, again.”

Swerve almost laughed. Almost. He’d definitely gotten a piece of Kup wisdom. It wasn’t exactly anything he didn’t already know, just more like all the things he tried to never think about. All the chances they had to change the tides in the past. All the easy mistakes they could have avoided, but didn’t for the sake of...he didn’t even know. Pride? No, not really. Really just for the sake of it. Which was a pretty pathetic excuse.

Kup stood up with a small groan and very long sigh. He looked out over the landscape again and shook his head, disapprovingly. “I’ve been around a long time, been in a lot of moments like this.Don’t like them all that much.” Turning the old bot put a hand in the air and gave a haphazard wave good-bye. “See ya round’ kid. Don’t go thinking too much in one evening. It’ll drive ya mad.”

_ Hindsight can really be a curse, huh? _


End file.
